A Samsung store in the Meatpacking District of Manhattan, New York, Oct. 10, 2016. Photo: Reuters/Andrew Kelly

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is finally official as the Korean version with the model number SM-N950KOR has been certified by the Federal Communications Commission with the certification number — A3LSMN950KOR. The phone was earlier expected to launch around the Internationale Funkausstellung 2017, popular known as IFA 2017 in September. But with the certification, it is more or less certain that the device is launching this month.

Why is it the Korean version and not the American or an international one?

Samsung puts out many of its devices in a limited quantity in South Korea before the ultimate launch of the device, more like release candidates so that it can sort out with last minute issues.

Samsung is expected to launch the device on Aug. 23, a week before the IFA begins. Its rumored specs include a 6.3-inch super AMOLED display with at least a 2K edge-to-edge display, 6GB RAM, and an Exynos 8995 or a Qualcomm Snapdragon 840 processor.

The FCC certification also confirms the presence of an edge-to-edge Super AMOLED display which will make the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 the device with the most usable surface area in the world.

Samsung is also expected to endow the Galaxy Note 8 with an edge-to-edge display. Since the USP for Note series is a large display, an edge-to-edge one would provide more surface area to users, which is one on this particular device is even more important than the one on the S8.

The Exynos version of the device will probably retail globally while the Qualcomm variant would be sold in the U.S.

Samsung has already leapfrogged its technology with the Galaxy S8 with features such as Bixby. With the Galaxy Note 8, it is expected to do even better and leave its history with the Note 7 behind.

The company is expected to improve on the Note 8’s standout feature — the S-pen stylus. The new S-Pen is expected to be a magnetic one and could also be more useful in functions such as drawing and taking notes.

In terms of the camera technology, it could feature a dual-camera akin to the one on the iPhone 7 Plus. It will feature an improved ISOCELL sensor, according to an official presentation held in June.

The device might be able to provide users with a larger field of vision and 3X optical zoom instead of the digital zoom. The camera sensor is also expected to be more color sensitive and is expected to provide DSLR-like zooming capabilities.

The device is also expected to be better at low-light shooting mode which would make it perform even better in the dark.

Another rumored feature of the device is depth sensing which would help users click more detailed images. This technology could also let the device differentiate between background and foreground, which would make it capable of augmented reality applications.